If “Harvest Moon with horror elements” is a game you’ve been hoping for, great news: Village in the Shade from Nippon Ichi Software and NIS America looks like it’s been designed to scratch that exact itch.
Described as a cozy, hand-painted farming sim set in a traditional village, the player will find themselves settling into rural life by farming and caring for livestock, fishing and hunting, and forming bonds with fellow villagers. However, there’s one caveat to this peaceful life: you must agree to follow the rules of Kagatsu Village. Don’t talk to strangers. Don’t leave the village. And definitely don’t go out at night.
During the day, the player can engage in all sorts of fun activities, like enjoying traditional Japanese festivals, such as matsuri (summer festivals) or cherry blossom viewing in the spring. Decorate your house with furniture you can buy in town or spruce up the property with items you can craft from materials found on the farm. Till and harvest your fields and care for your farm animals.
But at night, the village’s secrets come to life — secrets you’re not supposed to learn about.
I was able to get some time with Village in the Shade at PAX 2026 at the NIS America booth. I was able to choose whether I wanted to play during the day or at night, and I of course wanted to see what scary things reveal themselves in the shadows, so I decided to play at night. The NIS America employee manning the booth activated a handful of activities on my map when I started and told me they varied in difficulty, from easy to hard. The demo would end either when I died or when the in-game clock reached 5:00 am.
The player has an inventory wheel they can pull up to equip different farm tools. I had a pickaxe during the demo, but quickly learned that I couldn’t use it as a weapon against the yokai, ghosts, and demons freely wandering the village. Despite being a cute, charming world, the village absolutely takes on a different, creepy, eerie feel at night that made walking around exploring a bit unnerving. The easy challenge on my map was to follow some sort of spirit while avoiding the attacks of another. The attacking spirit was aggressive and out for blood, but luckily I was able to avoid its attacks for long enough that I didn’t die.
That was when I tried attacking the ghost with my pickaxe but was told by the NIS America employee that I couldn’t use my farm tools as weapons. I’m not sure if that means that the player will never have a way to fight back against the ghosts or if that ability just wasn’t available during the demo, but being completely defenseless definitely made me feel vulnerable and helpless. Not necessarily in a bad way, but it reminded me of the feeling of playing Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly back on the PlayStation 2 and being extremely vulnerable against the ghosts, armed only with a camera.
The ghosts and demons have a limited line of sight, made clear by the conical shape of light around their heads and pointing dead ahead of them. So long as you stay out of that line of sight, you should be fine and won’t draw their attention. I really loved how dark and rainy the environment was, which made exploring the village for the first time more treacherous.
Early on, I found a shrine where I could make an offering of certain amounts of herbs. I wasn’t able to find the full required amounts before the end of the demo, but it taught me that I should be on the lookout for plants and other gatherables to leave at the shrine to get something beneficial in return.
The character felt good to move around in the environment, and the hand-painted world was gorgeous. I kept referencing my map to make sure I was headed the right away and was struck by how large the village is, with a number of nooks and crannies to explore (or get lost in, even more daunting at night). The demo felt like it flew by and I really didn’t get much of a chance to explore, but what I did see was incredibly impressive. Kagatsu Village drew me right in and I wanted to experience so much more of the unsettling, creepy ghost encounters and uncover more secrets. I also thought it was funny how the art style is very Harvest Moon and cutesy, but juxtaposed at night with bloodstains and disturbing yokai. Somehow, it managed to creep me out almost as much as a more serious horror game.
However, if horror isn’t your thing, there’s an option to play the game on Peaceful Life Mode, where you can enjoy life in Kagatsu Village without even being able to break the village’s code.
Village in the Shade will be available on Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 on October 27. There are limited and deluxe editions of the game available for preorder. The limited edition ($89.99), which you can preorder from the NIS Online Store, comes with:
- Village in the Shade Deluxe Edition game
- Village in the Shade collector’s box
- Village in the Shade artbook
- Village in the Shade Digipak original soundtrack
- Village in the Shade acrylic stand
- Village in the Shade enamel pins (set of 5)
- Village in the Shade sticker sheet
The deluxe edition ($49.99) comes with:
- Village in the Shade game
- Digital soundtrack
- Mini artbook
It can be preordered from Walmart, Target, GameStop, EB Games, Best Buy, and Amazon. From the photos, it appears that the Switch 2 version of the game, regardless of edition, will be a Game Key-Card, while the Switch version will be a physical cartridge.
Are you looking forward to Village in the Shade? Are you more interested in the farm sim and daytime village activities, or are you more intrigued by uncovering the village’s dark, disturbing secrets by night? Let us know in the comments.